11 October 2010

mini-vaca weekend




This weekend we went for a little relaxing getaway to Portland to visit my brother and sister in law and to hang out tin Portland. On our annual family camping trip in August, Abe proposed a movie-a-thon weekend where we would simply relax and watch movies all weekend. I countered with an argument that said something like, "I'm not driving all the way to Portland just to watch movies!" So, we compromised--we watched quite a few movies but we also ventured out into the wonderful streets of Portland for lots of yummy food. We drove down late on Friday night, leaving Bellingham at 9pm and arriving in Portland around 2am (at least the wee hours of the morning on Saturday). We spent an hour or so visiting with my brother and his wife and then finally hit the sack. Aven slept until 7:30 or so and so we got about 4.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Saturday morning: we all got our showers and had some coffee while Abe dropped off the car at Les Schwab to get new tires put on. Expensive but hey, at least we saved tax in Oregon. Then we ventured out to the new location of Pine State Biscuits in Alberta. As per usual for a Saturday morning, there was a line out the door. It was a drizzly day so we waited under the eaves of a business across the street until we could squeeze in the door. Abe, Elisa and Bryce all ordered more traditional meat and egg items and hashbrowns while I decided on the fresh fruit compote with a ridiculous amount of fresh whipped cream over their warm crumbly biscuits and a side of crunchy and tasty bacon and fresh brewed Stumptown Coffee. After we were all sufficiently full we left and drove home to start the movie-marathon. We each selected one movie and Elisa had "Letters from Juliet" and Bryce had chosen "Edge of Darkness." Even though Aven screamed about the whole way to breakfast and back, she finally mellowed out and was fun and playful until her naptime while we enjoyed relaxing in cozy pajamas on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Saturday Evening: After a sufficient amount of time of relaxing and napping, we ventured back out for dinner at Fire on the Mountain Buffalo Wings. This was a truly unique and may I saw probably not so healthy experience, but delicious. We started with an appetizer of deep friend mushrooms stuffed with blue cheese. Next we all shared a pitcher of beer and a large frisbee of tater tots and a "24 pack" of chicken wings. We choose four different sauces for the wings: Jamaican Jerk, Sweet Barbeque, Spicy Peanut and Bourban Chipotle. To me, they were all really spicy! My mouth and my lips were on fire (hence the name I suppose). After this unique meal, I talked us into sharing an order of deep friend Oreos. While, again, they were not healthy in the least, I had to say I'd tried it at least once and they were actually really yummy. After an exhausting day of eating and watching movies we hit the sack around 11 ready to do the same thing again on Sunday.

Sunday Morning: Aven slept in until about 9am which was awesome and I caught up on a little sleep that I had missed on the drive down on Friday night. Abe and Bryce went to our next culinary adventure to pick up breakfast: King Burrito. These were monster breakfast burritos. A large flour tortilla wrapped around bacon, potatoes, cheese, rice, eggs, onions and refried beans, all for only $3.95! You can see their menu here. After this Abe and I ran a few errands to pick up yet another Craigslist find for Abe's bike. Then the marathon continued. I selected "I hate Valentine's Day" and Abe selected "Wolfman." We enjoyed the romantic comedy and Aven taking a nice long nap and then we headed out for dinner at Lucky Lab Brewing Company. Here we enjoyed the house IPA, the Super Dog, some delicious pizza and a huge Caesar Salad. We did half and half on the pizza but the side I focused on had blue cheese, green apples, hazelnuts and fresh spinach. It was awesome. As per most of our outings, Aven began to melt down towards the end (dang that baby bedtime!) so we headed home to enjoy the last movie.

Monday: My brother and Elisa went back to work and we ventured out to a few places around the city. While waiting for Rejuvination to open, we wandered around looking for a coffee sho for a "light" breakfast. Well, we didn't find that but we did stumble across Jam on Hawthorne, a locals favorite for yummy scrambles, amazing pancakes and jams and breakfast cocktails infused with house vodkas. I am always torn between the more practical side in me of getting something that has a good mix of veggies, protein and carbs so I steered clear of the Bluebery Chai Pancake although it looked amazing! Also managed to somehow resist the Grand Marnier French Toast and the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberry compote. It really was a miracle. Aven was thoroughly charming and smiled and kept her manners in tow in this cramped little breakfast haven. Checked out Rejuvination where Abe found an antique hand sharpener and we drooled over new leather couches. Checked out a few fun places downtown: Perch (a customizable couch shop) and Little Urbanites ( a cute upscale baby store) and finally headed home. As per most of our trips, we made it to about Marysville and then Aven decided she was a little tired of the car. I attempted to read her stories, play toys with her and give her a bottle. Between the above we managed to get some quiet time in before getting home.

Overall, we had an excellent time checking out new restaurants, relaxing and watching movies and watching my brother and his wife with our daughter was also a treat. It was as much a food adventure as a much needed mini-vacation weekend and relaxing trip to see family: thanks. Check out any of the below, they were all super yummy and quite affordable.
  • King Burrito
  • Pine State Biscuits
  • Fire on the Mountain Buffalo Wings
  • Lucky Labrador Brewing Company
  • Jam on Hawthorne

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